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Webster now holds a perfect 7-0 record with five knockouts (Photo courtesy of Derrick Webster).

Editorial Feature by John Archibald

When middleweight Derrick Webster (7-0, 5 KOs) accepted a bout with scrappy veteran Jose Medina (15-21, 11 KOs) this past Saturday in Atlantic City, many questioned why the undefeated prospect would put his perfect record on the line against such an experienced fighter. The New Jersey native then took all of 2:28 to show everyone why, scoring three knockdowns en route to a first round knockout, ultimately forcing Medina into retirement.

“I had a lot of people ask me why I would take that type of fight because Medina was known to be dangerous,” Webster said of the encounter. “He’s been knocked out before, but he’s also knocked out some pretty credible people. The only response I had for those asking why I took the fight was ‘he’s never been in the ring to fight me. He’s never been hit by me.’ I went in there believing in my trainer and what he has taught me, as well as believing in my own capabilities.”

Once the action got started at Caesars on Saturday night, it took less than a minute for Webster to send Medina flailing into the ropes following a vicious left hand. After he attempted to shake off the cobwebs, Medina again found himself on the canvas just 45 seconds later and for a third time shortly thereafter at the same moment his corner tried to throw in the towel.

“As I walked up to the ring, I told myself that he had 30 seconds to show me what it is everyone is talking about,” Webster reflected. “He had 30 seconds to impose some type of immediate threat or worry on me. Once the bell rang, we got to the middle of the circle and he just looked at me, so I fired. Once I fired and saw how fast I hit him, I kept going, and I didn’t stop. The lion came out.”

His own toughest critic, even Webster had to be happy with the dominating performance.

“I was impressed,” he admitted. “I went back and watched the fight quite a few times now. To know how hard we trained and seeing it executed in the ring is a big deal. Starting with the body work – I told my trainer (Denny Brown) before the fight that I’m not going down there. I’m 6-4, and I’m not going to the body because I’m giving up so much height. But in the fight, I did a lot of body work with uppercuts. My jab was also something we focused on - a real hard, stiff jab.”

The jab of Webster did some major damage in the affair, even resulting in a knockdown of the hard chinned Medina.

“I actually froze him with a jab and then knocked him down with a follow-up jab on the second knockdown,” he remarked. “The first knockdown was a one-two, and then the third one was impressive because it is a direct reflection of all the jab work we did. We don’t just throw punches to throw punches. We throw precision punches with a pivot. And if you look at the third knockdown, I hit him with a combination, and, when he pivoted, I pivoted with him. That’s when I threw a right hook, which ended the fight. This fight was very impressive, even to myself, because everything that my trainer gave me, I took and executed in the ring.”

In a sport that revolves so much around preparation, Webster says that he wants to make that aspect of the game an impossibility for his opponents.

“I really want to be a fighter that no one can train for,” he said. “To have the height I have, I can also move very well. Boxing is like a dance. If you want to move one way, I’m going to move the other way. If you want to box, I’ll out-box you. If you want to brawl, we’ll brawl. I want to give the fans something to see. I like to be a crowd pleaser. I’m here to bring boxing back, and I want to bring excitement to the sport.”

Standing tall as a 6-4 middleweight, Webster also says he is prepared to move however is needed to advance his career.

“I’m a middleweight, but I’ll go after the big guys if I have to do it,” he stated. “If I have to move up, I’ll come get you.”

Now that his seventh win is officially in the books, Webster has his sights set on the future, which includes a main event pairing at the Hamilton Manor in New Jersey on Saturday, June 4th. With that contest just over five weeks away, Webster has already begun to get himself ready.

“I don’t take time off,” he concluded. “I’m hooking up with my conditioning trainer for the next couple of weeks to build up the strength in my legs and core. I just want to get stronger, and I’m going to make that my focus over the next few weeks. People said I was a monster in my last fight, and I want to be that much more of one for my next fight.”

And if the monster Medina saw finds a way to mutate for the upcoming June episode, we already know how that horror story will end.